School districts and volunteers are working together to make sure kids have access to free meals while they are out of class.
North Texas’ largest school district, Dallas ISD, made the call Monday to close indefinitely.
The district was already set up on 20 campuses to serve free meals during their planned spring break, but said those meals would continue through this uncertain time.
“We will have meals available for the entire duration of the closure, whatever that closure may turn out to be, absolutely,” said Michael Rosenberger, executive director for food and child nutrition services at DISD.
The district is offering “grab and go” lunches to practice social distancing.
Twenty campus are offering meals this week, but at Saldivar Elementary, fewer people showed up Monday than they had during past traditional spring break weeks.
Thomas Jefferson sophomore Jonathan Villalba said people in his neighborhood across the street were staying home.
“People are just scared to come out because of the virus, probably later on in the week there will be some people here,” he said.
“We know that for a lot of our families these are challenging economic times and certainly with COVID-19, all the shutdowns with public events and it makes people nervous and have a little bit of fear,” Rosenberger said.
Arlington ISD announced the district is prepared to serve 7,000 free meals a day. They are setting up 23 different sites passing out a lunch, along with a breakfast for the next morning.
Fort Worth ISD rolled out food trucks to serve kids at nine campuses Monday through Friday. The district said they will provide healthy “to go” meals.
Districts across the area are offering free meals while kids are out of school. Be sure to check with your district’s website for locations and details.
